Othello: Metaphor and Contrast in Lines 299-318 in Act III, Scene iii

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Metaphor and Contrast in Lines 299-318 in Act III, Scene iii of Othello

Othello’s feelings toward Desdemona are vacillating. He loathes her for her infidelity and, at the same time, he is devoted to the faithful Desdemona he once knew. These conflicting emotions are developed using a mixture of metaphor and contrast.

This fellow's of exceeding honesty
And knows all (qualities) with a learned spirit
Of human dealings. If I do prove her haggard,
Thoguht that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,
I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind
To prey at fortune. Haply, for I am black
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have, or for I am declined
Into the vale of years—yet that's not much—
She's gone, I am abused, and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage,
That we can call these delicate creatures ours
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad
And live upon the vapor of a dungeon
Than keep a corner in the thing I love
For others' uses. Yet 'tis the plague (of) great ones;
Prerogatived are they less than the base.
'Tis destiny unshunnab...

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